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Climate Change Adaptation Manual (NE751)

The need for climate change adaptation has become widely recognised in the last 20 years. The environmental sector was one of the first to identify the need and to start developing approaches to adaptation. Initially much of the focus was on identifying general principles. This was an essential first step, but adaptation needs to be embedded into decision-making in specific places and circumstances. There can be a big gap between general principles and specific applications. Effective adaptation requires local knowledge and experience, combined with relevant scientific information and an understanding of practical options. It will be assisted by sharing good practice and evidence of what techniques have worked in particular places and situations.

This Adaptation Manual is a resource to support practical and pragmatic decision-making, by bringing together recent science, experience and case studies, and is intended to be an accessible entry point to a range of available resources and tools. It is not intended to be read from cover to cover: different elements stand alone and can be read individually. We anticipate that the information contained here will be useful to a variety of people, including managers of nature reserves and other protected sites, conservation and land management advisors, and environmental consultants. The intended audience is those who are involved in the management of land for conservation and amenity, and includes staff of local and national government, statutory agencies and NGOs.

The first edition of the Adaptation Manual was published in 2014 and had a focus on habitat management. This new edition updates the information contained in the first edition and has been expanded to include new sections on:

Species
Green infrastructure
Geology and geomorphology, and
Access and recreation.

Climate change adaptation is a fast moving field and we hope the manual to continue to develop and grow over time. This manual has been developed jointly by Natural England and the RSPB, with contributions from the Environment Agency, the Forestry Commission and a wide range of other organisations.

Downloads available for this record

File Uploaded
NE751 - Edition 2 - Climate Change Adaptation Manual - Evidence to support nature conservation in a changing climate, PDF, 17.6 MB 2020/04/22
Part 1 - Introduction and background, PDF, 1.2 MB 2020/04/22
Part 1 - Natural England landscape scale assessment method, PDF, 174.7 kB 2020/04/22
Part 1 - RSPB climate change assessment, PDF, 204.4 kB 2020/04/22
Part 2 Habitats - Introduction to the habitat sheets, PDF, 76.7 kB 2020/04/22
Arable field margins, PDF, 268.1 kB 2020/04/22
Beech and yew woodland, PDF, 263.6 kB 2020/04/22
Blanket bog, PDF, 222.2 kB 2020/04/22
Coastal floodplain and grazing marsh, PDF, 226.2 kB 2020/04/22
Coastal saltmarsh, PDF, 214.7 kB 2020/04/22
Coastal sand dunes, PDF, 213.0 kB 2020/04/22
Coastal vegetated shingle, PDF, 292.9 kB 2020/04/22
Hedgerows, PDF, 233.4 kB 2020/04/22
Lowland calcareous grassland, PDF, 233.7 kB 2020/04/22
Lowland dry acid grassland, PDF, 221.6 kB 2020/04/22
Lowland fens, PDF, 329.9 kB 2020/04/22
Lowland heathland, PDF, 295.0 kB 2020/04/22
Lowland meadow, PDF, 250.9 kB 2020/04/22
Lowland mixed deciduous woodland, PDF, 209.9 kB 2020/04/22
Lowland raised bog, PDF, 243.5 kB 2020/04/22
Maritime cliffs and slopes, PDF, 269.5 kB 2020/04/22
Montane habitats, PDF, 190.0 kB 2020/04/22
Purple moor grass and rush pasture, PDF, 226.6 kB 2020/04/22
Reedbeds, PDF, 242.0 kB 2020/04/22
Rivers and streams, PDF, 251.4 kB 2020/04/22
Saline lagoons, PDF, 222.7 kB 2020/04/22
Standing open water, PDF, 213.6 kB 2020/04/22
Traditional orchards, PDF, 246.6 kB 2020/04/22
Upland acid grassland, PDF, 195.6 kB 2020/04/22
Upland flushes, fens and swamps, PDF, 155.6 kB 2020/04/22
Upland hay meadow, PDF, 241.2 kB 2020/04/22
Upland heathland, PDF, 203.3 kB 2020/04/22
Upland mixed ash woodland, PDF, 255.5 kB 2020/04/22
Upland oak woodland, PDF, 303.9 kB 2020/04/22
Wet woodland, PDF, 292.0 kB 2020/04/22
Wood pasture and parkland, PDF, 253.5 kB 2020/04/22
Part 3 Species Introduction, PDF, 375.8 kB 2020/04/22
Adonis blue, PDF, 161.6 kB 2020/04/22
Alpine lady's-mantle, PDF, 465.4 kB 2020/04/22
Atlantic salmon, PDF, 168.3 kB 2020/04/22
Baltic bog-moss, PDF, 216.5 kB 2020/04/22
Beech, PDF, 424.3 kB 2020/04/22
Bilberry, PDF, 495.6 kB 2020/04/22
Bluebell, PDF, 438.4 kB 2020/04/22
Common green grasshopper, PDF, 403.1 kB 2020/04/22
Curlew, PDF, 430.5 kB 2020/04/22
Dartford warbler, PDF, 368.0 kB 2020/04/22
Forester, PDF, 375.1 kB 2020/04/22
Golden plover, PDF, 410.2 kB 2020/04/22
Great crested newt, PDF, 337.8 kB 2020/04/22
Keeled skimmer, PDF, 436.5 kB 2020/04/22
Large heath, PDF, 477.0 kB 2020/04/22
Little tern, PDF, 411.9 kB 2020/04/22
Mountain bumblebee, PDF, 399.8 kB 2020/04/22
Mountain ringlet, PDF, 411.1 kB 2020/04/22
Northern brown argus, PDF, 357.3 kB 2020/04/22
Ring ouzel, PDF, 418.5 kB 2020/04/22
Silver spotted skipper, PDF, 259.9 kB 2020/04/22
Small red damselfly, PDF, 387.6 kB 2020/04/22
Tree lungwort, PDF, 265.3 kB 2020/04/22
Twite, PDF, 384.7 kB 2020/04/22
White faced darter, PDF, 239.2 kB 2020/04/22
Whitefish, vendace and Arctic charr, PDF, 388.4 kB 2020/04/22
Part 4 Green Infrastructure, PDF, 799.8 kB 2020/04/22
Part 5 Geology and Geomorphology, PDF, 427.3 kB 2020/04/22
Part 6 Access and Recreation, PDF, 561.7 kB 2020/04/22
Part 7 Ecosystems section, PDF, 172.1 kB 2020/04/22
Part 8 Glossary, PDF, 92.5 kB 2020/04/22
NBN Maps - Data providers appendix, PDF, 362.9 kB 2020/04/22
Adaptation for habitats in Environmental Land Management Schemes - Appendix, PDF, 640.5 kB 2024/08/14

Related Access to Evidence records

Title
Climate Change Adaptation Manual - Evidence to support nature conservation in a changing climate (NE546)